


21:00:00

by CasusFere



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: M/M, Sandstorm will totally tap that, Vortex being surprisingly honest, non-explicit reference to violence and death, non-explicit references to nearly ever consent issue imaginable, teal kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 09:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1600571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasusFere/pseuds/CasusFere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vortex and Sandstorm are trapped in a collapsed bunker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	21:00:00

_Time: 00:00:00_

The gun barrel pressed against the back of Vortex's helm. 

“Drop it, Decepticreep,” Sandstorm ordered. 

“Or what?” Vortex tilted his head until he could see the Wrecker. “Onslaught's right outside. Fire and my team'll be on you before you can scream.”

Sandstorm grinned. It wasn't a nice expression. “Yeah, but you'll be dead.”

Frag Wreckers. Vortex tossed the gun aside, holding his hands out to the side. 

“Good boy,” Sandstorm drawled. “Now step over here like a nice little Decepticon...”

A muffled _whump_ from outside, and the entire building shook, lights flickering and falling from the ceiling.

“Well, frag,” Sandstorm said.

Then the ceiling fell in.

x-x-x

_Time: 00:00:15_

Sandstorm's intakes coughed, clearing out dust. He shoved a broken section of girder off his chest, wincing. “Ow,” he muttered. 

Debris stirred to his left, metal scraping. “I second that,” came a voice he really didn't care to hear. 

“Frag, I was hoping the beam fell on your head,” Sandstorm said casually, reaching for his weapon. His hand hit more debris. 

“Sorry to disappoint,” Vortex said. “Ow, my rotors are stuck.”

“Poor thing,” Sandstorm said, pulling his backup blaster. He kept it trained on Vortex while he checked out their situation.

“Considerin' that the ceiling fell on the exit, I think we can skip the wavin' guns at each other,” Vortex said, ignoring the blaster pointing at his face in favor of grabbing the stuck rotor and trying to wiggle it free. 

It only took a few moments of examination to realize Vortex was right. “Double frag,” he said.

x-x-x

_Time: 00:52:00_

“Have you ever _had_ a consensual relationship?” Sandstorm asked, exasperated.

Vortex leaned his head back against the bulkhead, considering. “Define 'consensual'.”

The Wrecker gave him a strange look. “Seriously?”

Vortex shrugged. “Sure. It gets kinda complicated, y'know.”

“How complicated can it be?” Sandstorm stretched out, propping a foot up on a fallen girder. “Both parties wanna be there.”

“Then yeah, I've had plenty of consensual relationships.” Vortex paused. “At least, they would rather be _there_ than the alternative.”

“Was the alternative pain or death?”

“One, then the other,” Vortex admitted cheerfully.

“That's... that's the opposite of consensual,” Sandstorm said, covering his face with his hands. “They gotta _want_ to be there, not just _not_ want to be somewhere else.”

“Picky, picky.” Vortex shrugged. “Okay, fine. Not counting them, still, yeah.”

“And no holding anything over their heads. No blackmail, no threatening their friends, loved ones,” Sandstorm gave him a look. “...random strangers, or anyone else to get them to interface with you. No one that tried to seduce you to get out of a bad situation.”

“That takes your boss out of it, then,” Vortex sighed. “You ever 'face that? Rawr.”

“Yes, and he's even better when not bleeding out,” Sandstorm said blandly.

Surprised, Vortex laughed. “Oh, I like you. What about blind drunk, does that count?”

“No. Neither does hallucinating from energon depletion.”

“Take the fun out of it, why don't you?”

“And no one you 'faced with to emotionally manipulate,” Sandstorm admonished. 

“What if they were trying to emotionally manipulate _me?_ ” Vortex stretched his rotors, settling back.

“No.”

“Frag, you've got a lotta conditions.” Vortex shrugged. “I'm out.”

They were both silent for a long moment. 

“You wanna?” Sandstorm ventured.

“What, really?” 

Sandstorm waved a hand. “We're stuck in a collapsed bunker. No one's coming until they're done shooting at each other, and judging from the entrenchments, that'll be a few cycles at least. What else are we going to do in the meantime?”

“Huh.” Vortex considered the idea. “So, stuck in possibly life-threatenin' situations and extreme boredom both count for your little consensual kink?” 

“It's not a kink. You're the one with the-” Sandstorm paused. “No, I can't even call what you have a kink. You got problems, man.”

“Hey, you're the one propositionin' me,” Vortex pointed out cheerfully.

“Yes, I am. Are you going to get over here, or not?”

“Well, like someone pointed out, we ain't got that much to do.” Vortex pushed off the wall and crawled over to the Wrecker. “So, you gonna show me how much better all parties bein' consensual is?”

Sandstorm grinned. “Maybe.”

x-x-x

Time: 01:46:00

“Y'know, I was really hopin' you'd be one of those helicopters that freaks out when the roof falls in,” Vortex said idly. He was stretched out next to Sandstorm, idly rubbing at an orange paint streak. 

Sandstorm shrugged one shoulder. “Ground mode's my primary alt. Triplechanger process didn't include the mode-based phobias. Really, if anyone's going to freak out, it should be you.”

“Nah, not claustrophobic.” Vortex's rotors spun lazily, stirring little swirls of dust. “Never saw the point.” 

“I don't think phobias are supposed to have a point,” Sandstorm said, stretching out a finger to flick a spinning rotor tip. “That's what makes them phobias, instead of perfectly reasonable fears.”

“All fears are reasonable,” Vortex said. “At least, they are after I've had a hold of 'em for a few cycles.”

“That's not comforting in any way.”

“Oh, am I supposed to be?” Vortex patted his arm. “There, there, it'll be alright.”

“That's really just making it worse.”

x-x-x

_Time: 06:03:00_

“Who you think won?” Vortex wondered out loud.

Sandstorm snorted. “Stupid question. We did.” He was leaned back against Vortex's side, feet on the wall opposite. “Wasn't ever in doubt.”

“The hell it wasn't,” Vortex growled. “Onslaught's probably mopping the floor with your boss.”

Sandstorm tilted his head back, giving the ceiling a thoughtful look. “Can't hear anything anymore.”

“Y'know, that don't point to your guys winning.” Vortex stretched, not making any effort to dislodge the Wrecker. “My guys, on the other hand, would totally leave me to stew for a few cycles before diggin' me out.”

“Hmph.” Sandstorm elbowed him. “Stop wiggling.”

x-x-x

_Time: 11:37:00_

“Why'd you join the Decepticons?” Sandstorm asked idly.

“Default,” Vortex answered. 

“What's that mean?”

Vortex rolled over, propping his head on a hand. “Why'd you care?”

“Curiosity.” Sandstorm waved a hand at the ceiling. “And what else to we have to do?”

“Interface some more?”

Sandstorm laughed.

x-x-x

_Time: 12:04:00_

“How's your fuel?” Sandstorm asked.

“What, gonna give me some of yours?”

“Just wondering.” Sandstorm smirked. “In case I wanna do that again. Can't have you passin' out halfway. Hurts my ego.”

“'M good,” Vortex said. “Why'd you join the Wreckers?”

“Decepticons attacked my home-”

“Attacked your home planet, slaughtered lots of people, pacifists, blah blah blah, you grabbed a gun and joined the Autobots.” Vortex snorted. “I asked why you joined the _Wreckers._ It's a bit of jump from pacifist to the most violent commando squad the Autobots got.”

Sandstorm blinked at him.

“What? I've read your file.”

x-x-x

_Time: 14:43:00_

“Maybe everyone's dead,” Vortex suggested. “Killed by a freak radiation storm.”

“No radiation storms on this planet.” Sandstorm flicked a rock across the floor.

“I know. But I was _kinda_ hopin' you'd at least look worried.” 

“It was after Shockwave,” Sandstorm said after a moment of silence. “Joining the Wreckers,” he clarified at Vortex's questioning look. “After an Autobot raid on Shockwave's research facilities. They weren't actually looking to rescue us; no one thought there'd be survivors.” He grimaced. “No reason to, really; we were the first to live through the process.” He ran his fingertip along the edge of Vortex's nearest rotor. “Coming out of there, it was like everything had changed. I never hated the Decepticons before that, but...” He shook his head. “It wasn't enough to just be an Autobot.” He let go of the rotor. “What about you? Why'd you join Onslaught?”

“There's this thing, called bein' _assigned_ a post,” Vortex said dryly. “He was my commander. End o' story.”

“So, the whole ending up in the Decepticon equivalent of solitary confinement for, let's see, what did they sentence you to? Eternity?” Sandstorm's tone was just as dry. “That was just because you happened to be standing nearby?”

Vortex laughed. “Sure, let's go with that.”

x-x-x

_Time: 15:03:00_

“Never really mattered to me,” Vortex said suddenly.

“What didn't?”

Vortex shrugged. “Autobot, Decepticon, it's all pretty much the same. 'Bot's got the whole 'be nice' culture thing, 'Cons got a 'be the guy with the biggest gun' culture thing. But a mech's a mech, and strapped down, they're all the same.”

“So why Onslaught?”

“I have a teal kink.”

x-x-x

_Time: 17:21:00_

“Would you believe me if I told you I used to believe in him?” Vortex asked idly.

“Probably not.”

“Yeah, thought so.”

x-x-x

_Time: 18:00:00_

“Have you ever thought you were in love?” Sandstorm asked, playing with the hand Vortex had slung over his midsection.

Vortex just laughed.

x-x-x

_Time: 18:29:00_

“What'd you do if the war stopped today?” 

Vortex turned his head. “What's with the philosophy?”

“That's not philosophy. It's just a question.” Sandstorm grinned. “What else are we gonna do?”

“Heh. True. I'd do the same thing I do now.” Vortex paused. “Maybe with less being shot at.”

“Don't think that'd be a little harder to get away with in peacetime?”

“Why? It's the same thing I was doin' before the war. Names change, governments don't. Way of the universe. Always a need for someone like me.”

x-x-x

_Time: 19:15:00_

“Who'd you rather do, Starscream, or Prowl?” Vortex asked.

“Do I get a gag?”

“Sure.”

“Definitely Starscream.”

“I knew I liked you,” Vortex approved.

x-x-x

_Time: 19:35:00_

“Optimus Prime, or Megatron?” 

Vortex lifted his head in interest. “Do I get restraints?”

“Only if you're the one wearing 'em.” Sandstorm pointed a finger. “No weapons, either.”

“Huh. Have to go with Prime, then.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Least it'd be new.”

“...That's a little horrifying in the implications.”

Vortex shrugged. “You asked.”

x-x-x

_Time: 20: 20:00_

“Do you hear that?” Sandstorm asked. “Drills.”

Vortex rolled off him, sitting up and looking at the ceiling. “Huh. Sounds like.” 

“Gonna take them a bit to get through,” Sandstorm noted.

“Yeah?”

Sandstorm grinned, grabbing Vortex by the rotorhub and pulling him back down. “I'm bad at waiting.”

x-x-x

_Time: 21:00:00_

 _“Sandy! Do you read me?”_ His radio crackled. 

“Frag,” Vortex said with a sigh. 

Sandstorm smirked. “Told you.” He switched over to radio. “I'm here, Springer. And don't fragging call me Sandy.”

_“Hang in there, we're almost through.”_

“Sorry,” Sandstorm said, pulling his backup gun and pointing it casually in Vortex's direction. “Springer, I'm not alone down here. Vortex is keeping me company.”

_“Do we need to come in guns first?”_ Springer asked. 

“No, I got it covered. Just get us out of here.”

“Aw, I'm hurt, really.” Vortex leaned back against the wall. Sandstorm took a seat across from him, settling in to wait as the growl of the drill got closer.


End file.
